Dem
51
GOP
49
All of the above notwithstanding, there is also bad news for Biden. Many young voters dislike both him and Donald Trump and aren't going to vote. A very polite way of expressing this is that some are what are euphemistically called "low-information voters" and blame Biden for things he can't control. It's like: "I read all about the eclipse and wanted to see it but it wasn't available in my state so I am going to blame the president. It's his fault." Many of them have no idea: (1) what Biden tried to do as president and (2) why he couldn't get it.
USA Today interviewed a number of young voters to get a feel for how they are thinking. Biden can only hope they got a very skewed sample or that when push comes to shove, their peers push them to vote. For example, Viviana Ramos is a 24-year old liberal woman working in a service-industry job and living paycheck to paycheck. She is worried about climate change, health care, the cost of buying a house. She's probably not going to vote, even if that means Donald Trump, who she dislikes more than she dislikes Biden, will win.
Kathika Senevirante (25) said: "I usually judge people if they don't vote. But this is the first election where I understand if you don't want to vote. I'm just stuck."
Kirsten Mansel (23) is a liberal who wants to teach Biden a lesson because he didn't cancel student loans or protect abortion. She is willing to accept a Trump presidency to stick it to Biden because she is angry. Maybe somebody ought to tell her that Biden tried to cancel student loans but the Supreme Court, full of Republican appointees, said he didn't have the authority to do that, and nevertheless he is trying to do what he can on the interest on the loans and other things. While he or she is at it, maybe someone should tell Kirsten that only Congress can make a law making abortion legal nationwide and all Republicans oppose that, so the votes aren't there.
Jeremy Gold (30) said: "It feels like the older generation is still in charge, and there are such huge differences in our experiences." That's true, but if younger voters decide not to vote to send somebody a message, that will continue to be true.
The low electoral participation is not entirely due to lack of interest. Legislatures in red states often go out of their way to make voting difficult for young voters. For example, some states require out-of-state college students to vote where their parents live, not where they actually live most (or all) of the year. Others allow college students to vote, but don't accept a college ID as a valid photo ID, even when it is issued by a state university. In contrast, a gun permit is often accepted as a valid ID. In other cases, requiring new voters to go to a county office and fill out a voter-registration form using a pen seems so "last century" to many young people who have grown up in a digital world.
What USA Today discovered is that young people are not apathetic; they are annoyed and see Biden as only marginally better than Trump. Many of them don't have any idea of how great the gap between them really is. One possible hope is if Taylor Swift makes a big effort to get young people to register and vote. She doesn't even have to tell them who to vote for, just vote. How hard she will push that remains to be seen though. After all, Republicans buy records, too. (V)